You shall not forget!

                  (Deuteronomy 25:19)

Elul 10, 5777/September 1, 2017

"Therefore, it will be, when HaShem your G-d grants you respite from all your enemies around you in the land which HaShem, your G-d, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not forget!" (Deuteronomy 25:19)

This week's Torah reading, Ki Teitzei, opens with war, ("When you go out to battle..." ibid 21:10) and concludes with the call to anihilate, militarily and spiritually, the iconic enemy of Israel, G-d, and humanity: Amalek. Between that call to battle and this call to battle parashat Ki Teitzei presents a tour de force of commandments, running the gamut from personal responsibilities, responsibilities to society at large, and responsibilities to G-d. Precisely against this vast array of commandments signifying who we are and our eternal bond to the G-d of Israel, the sombre commandment to obliterate Amalek stands out as a stark ultimatum. Particularly curious is the precondition stated that the war against Amalek will commence in earnest only after "HaShem your G-d grants you respite from all your enemies around you in the land which the HaShem, your G-d, gives to you as an inheritance to possess." Respite? Peace and quiet? Who wants to go to war when there is no one attacking you, trying to take your land, your livestock, your loved ones?

This is not the first time that Torah makes mention of a time when the land of Israel and the people of Israel shall enjoy peace and tranquility. We have earlier read that "And you shall cross the Jordan and settle in the land HaShem, your G-d, is giving you as an inheritance, and He will give you rest from all your enemies surrounding you, and you will dwell securely." (ibid 12:10) This verse is the concluding verse of a six verse message that begins with Torah's very first mention of the future Holy Temple: "But only to the place which HaShem your G-d shall choose from all your tribes, to set His Name there; you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there." (ibid 12:5) In this instance Torah makes an intrinsic connection between the establishment of the Holy Temple in the place He chooses (Jerusalem), and peace throughout the land, and in this week's parasha, Torah states an intrinsic connection between peace throughout the land and the war against Amalek. What then, does the war to annihilate Amalekhave to do with the establishment of the Holy Temple? They seem like vastly different, mutually exclusive realities. Is Torah telling us that they are actually complimentary commandments?

In his book of the Laws of Kings, the great sage Maimonides also makes this connection, stating that the war against Amalek and the building of the Holy Temple are twin responsibilities of the king of Israel. In short, however quiet the land may appear, the continued existence of Amalek in the world and the building of the Holy Temple simply cannot co-exist. Amalek is the personification of doubt in G-d's providence, of a lack of fear of G-d's dominion, and of contempt for G-d's children. He was the first to attack Israel, unprovoked, after leaving Egypt and crossing the Sea of Reeds. All this is clearly stated in the words "You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt, how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear G-d." (ibid 25:17-18)

Conversely, doubt in G-d's providence, a lack of fear of G-d's dominion, and contempt for G-d's children are all human frailties that are vanquished by the existence of the Holy Temple, where G-d's presence dwells strongest, and the Divine service which takes place there, in which man's love for G-d attains its highest expression. The establishment of G-d's Place on earth cannot be boxed in or limited by the presence of an enemy, no matter how distant, who still preaches and personifies a world without G-d, a Hobbesian world of unrestrained barbarism and egoism, and it won't!

The commandment to obliterate Amalek is described as two-fold: "blot out his memory and don't forget." But isn't blotting out his memory achieved by forgetting his memory? This two-sided commandment seems self-contradictory, inevitably impossible to achieve! Either we forget or we remember. How can we do both?

The truth is that the existence of Amalek himself is the forgetting of G-d's presence in the world. The bane of Amalek is the bane of forgetting our connection to G-d. When we ultimately blot out the memory of Amalek we are, in fact, blotting out the forgetfulness of G-d in our world. Remembering G-d in our world and in our lives is the very essence of the Holy Temple. There can be no forgetfulness of G-d in a world in which the Holy Temple stands. In a world with the Holy Temple the memory of Amalek, the doubt, the lack of fear and the contempt for G-d and His creation is wiped away forever. "You shall not forget: this is G-d's world!" is the unequivocal message of the Holy Temple that reverberates throughout the world, day in and day out, until the end of time.

-The Temple Institute